Insight

Happy Friday everyone! We’re going to be sharing some fun agency-life happenings each week with you so make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter @ocreative with the hashtag #ocreativeagencylife! But first, let me set this up a little… We have an orange (surprised, right?!) dry erase board next to our coffee station. Each day, someone at Ocreative adds a little line here, a circle there, and as the week progresses, a collective drawing emerges. Sometimes the lines and shading happens during a coffee break. Sometimes, we do it to stretch our legs. Sometimes, the drawing bug hits us, and we can’t help ourselves but get up and draw on the board! It’s always fun to see where the drawing goes each week, and it’s a no-holds-barred sort of situation (but we keep it clean, of course!) “Give us a sample of the Weekly Drawing!” So, now

Recently, a new term has been tossed around the tech industry and has been gaining more ground every day: Wearable Technology. I know that many people think that this concept is still a long way from becoming popular—with such products as Google Glasses and the Apple iWatch not yet widely available or just beginning to make their way into customers’ hands (or wrists . . . or faces!). But there are already many other products that have snuck in and found footholds in the market such as Android Wear, ARM, Fitbit, and Pebble—just to name a few. Now, there are some naysayers who claim that wearable tech is just a fad. They believe that it will blow over as another silly trend, but to them I say nay. Nay, you naysayers. You see, a recent report from the Pew Research Center Internet Project indicates that 83% of industry experts believe that wearable

Mobile devices are here to stay, and it’s pretty clear that they have revolutionized the way people use and interact with websites. If your site isn’t easy to view on a mobile device (or isn’t mobile friendly) by now, you’re not just missing out on giving visitors a positive…

It started in October 2012: Google announced that its Webmaster Tools would start to let users know by email when Google discovered critical issues with their site. Back then, Google stated that it would begin to notify webmasters about issues that it felt would have a significant impact on their site’s health or search performance so that site owners could quickly address the issues. Fast forward to 2015 and Google has been sending out warning notifications like mad to owners of websites that are not mobile friendly. The official Google Webmaster announcement was this: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high-quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” Google has

Tired of the same old corned beef and cabbage you usually have? In spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes for corned beef hash. This recipe is my own take on a corned beef entree and is a compilation of the best of corned beef recipes I have tried over the years. So, here it goes… Ingredients 1 pound corned beef 4 medium potatoes (I like Yukon Golds) 1 medium onion 1/2 green pepper 1 teaspoon parsley 1 teaspoon chives 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar 1 teaspoon Worcestershire or A1 Steak Sauce 2 tablespoon olive oil salt and pepper to taste Cooking Instructions Cut the corned beef, potatoes, onions and green pepper into about 1/2 inch cubes. Mix with remaining ingredients in a cast iron skillet (or frying pan). Cook everything at medium heat, turning contents often until meat and

An incredible 1.8 million words. That number, 1.8 million, is what Dr. James McQuivery of Forrester Research calculates as the value of the number of words in one minute of video. Or how about this? A picture is said to be worth a thousand words, and a video flashes…

Welcome to the world of tomorrow. With faster connections, better tools, and an endless supply of constantly changing electronic devices, the look of the web has changed dramatically in the last few years. So let’s predict what may be trending in 2015 . . .

Marsala feeds the mind, body and soul. The 2015 Pantone Color of the Year is infused with the energy of red-wine and because of it’s strong undertones of brown, it further radiates characteristics of confidence and strength and feels a natural and comfortable. In previous years, we saw Tangerine Tango, a color which helped us recharge during the challenging economic times of 2012. In 2013, we met Emerald, a color that helped our well-being and our balance while giving us harmony and renewal. In 2014, we needed to boost creativity, originality and confidence and we found that with Radiant Orchid. Looking forward to 2015, we needed a color that fits with us ‘right now.’ In an age of loudness and technology, Pantone’s in-depth color research, which spanned across several industries, identified that there was a need for people to pull back to a quieter, more comfortable place where they could find contentment and warmth. This feeling can be had in the color, Marsala, the 2015 Color of the

Ocreative’s excited about the holidays! And, to celebrate its arrival, we’re giving away a grand prize of $250 of Ocreative services to a lucky winner just in time to celebrate. All you need to do is share your name and email with us between now and and January 15, 2015. All current Ocreative customers and non-customers are eligible to enter and winners will be handpicked by the Ocreative team. The winner will be notified by email on Friday, January 16, 2015. By clicking the ‘Send Email’ button below, you also agree to receive the Ocreative monthly newsletter.

For many years businesses have relied upon the data from Google Analytics to help understand the activity on our websites. And, for many years, this was all very useful, but, honestly, it also had its limitations. The problem lies in the fact that all it offers was ‘visit centric’ data, which basically just means – every time someone returns to your site, it’s tracked as a new visit. In walks Universal Analytics, the new, updated version of Google Analytics which aims to focus on visitors, rather than visits. Some have made the switch already, but if you are one of the many who haven’t yet, there are many reasons why making the switch is a good choice. Not just for the added functionality, but the tracking code is more flexible and easier to implement on a variety of levels. Let’s step back a moment, and talk about what Universal Analytics

Mobile sites are dead. Well, no, not really, but having a separate sites for your desktop and mobile users is. Or at least, it should be. What I am trying to say is that there is something out there that is bigger, better, stronger, faster, and that thing is Responsive Design. If you’ve heard of it, you are already on the right track. If you haven’t, snuggle up, we’ve got some talking to do. With responsive design, you don’t have to have worry about having different websites for various devices or making sure that your site runs properly on a mobile device because a responsive web site solves that problem for you – the same code work across multiple screen resolutions. And with more devices coming in varying screen resolutions, definitions and orientations, it is becoming of utmost importance that each one of those is accounted for. But there are

Sending marketing emails to Canada is not recommended – not without prior consent from the recipient. Canada passed a new Anti-Spam law that goes into effect July 1, 2014. The law makes sweeping changes to the ability of companies to send solicitations through electronic communication. At its most basic, the law makes sending unwanted email a finable offense. The companies this will affect the heaviest are those that purchase email lists. In addition to email lists, you can no longer send out to personal information that was collected in any way other than a sign up form. The only acceptable email that can be sent needs to be “opt-in” only. This means the visitor must specifically sign up for your email newsletter and give their consent to receive messages from you. The signup form must be obvious in its intent and tricking the visitor to sign up for your newsletter will be a

For any company selling a product or service, the website is one of the most effective tools in the marketing arsenal. It can also be one of the most devastating. It takes people .05 seconds, that’s the blink of an eye, to form an opinion about your website – and in turn, your company. An awesome web design inspires trust in your business, a bad one will have them turning away without another thought. According to web credibility research, 75% of people will admit that they judge a company’s credibility based on the website’s design. Content, is, and always will be, the most important – but, for that initial reaction, you need some great visual appeal. In fact, research shows that a great first impression can boost overall user satisfaction. That being said, the initial design; with the branded colors, fluid layout and elegant fonts, in my opinion, only gets you about 95%

As a business you probably already have a Facebook page where you keep your community up-to-date on what’s happening in your business. You stay active on Twitter and probably even keep close tabs on the LinkedIn account, but have you thought much about Google+? Believe it or not, according to GlobalWebIndex’s latest study, Google+ is currently the number two social media site in the world. Facebook continues to dominate market adaptation with 70% account ownership but Google+ is catching up with just over 50% account ownership by all internet users. Keep in mind this stat is referencing account ownership, not active users. Facebook also dominates in the active user category but Google+ isn’t far behind. These account ownership stats are increasing partially due tot the fact that a Google+ account is mandatory whenever a Gmail or YouTube account is created. But, let’s face it – you most likely already have

Let’s face it – it’s 2014, we are well into the digital age and technology is advancing faster than we can buy it. It’s also made the days of set-it-and-forget-it websites a thing of the past. Now, more than ever – websites aren’t the catchall for static information, they are the start of a conversation. A website is a tool in your marketing arsenal that lets you focus on your target audience while giving you the ability to adapt and change right along with the times with the click of a few buttons. Although, just a few years ago, website changes were a tedious and sometimes costly task. Today, with the power and advancement of Content Management Systems (CMS), updating a website has never been easier. Here at Ocreative we consumed large amounts of data and research and immersed ourselves in discussion after discussion, and we have chosen to

We had boatloads of fun at our 10-year Anniversary Celebration and Open House last month. It was wonderful to welcome over 100 familiar and not-so-familiar faces into our new studio space and share how we do what we do here at Ocreative. There were snacks, beverages, music coming from the speakers, a debut of our new agency video reel playing on the big screen, over $1,000 dollars in drawings, and of course, exciting previews into what we have in-store for 2014! Thank you to all who were able to attend and all who graciously sent messages of congratulations and gifts. Check out photos from the event below:

How very exciting! Pantone announced today that the Pantone color of the Year is… click play below to reveal… starting the drumroll now! That’s right, the 2014 Pantone Color of the Year is gorgeous Radiant Orchid! Andrea Koeppel will be following up on this exciting Pantone color news talking more about the color specifically in the next post– so stay tuned!

Google’s ‘not provided’ Top Keyword Data is a controversial topic, and there’s no failsafe way to access the data. Google changed the way it harvests data from search to protect users’ privacy back in October of 2011. This number continues to rise in your Google Analytics report because more people are using the many great services over at Google. For example, if a user is logged into a Google product (such as Gmail or any Google Account) when searching, their search is conducted over SSL. As such, the referral data relating to that search is hidden and thus “not provided.” It can be worth investing some time into narrowing down where this traffic might be coming from and which pages they are accessing through a few workarounds that may help to improve the understanding of organic keywords and gain a better insight into your missing statistics. If this is continuing to

Join our team at Ocreative as we celebrate our 10 year anniversary and our new office space! Meet and greet with our digital adventurers and swashbuckling creative team, enjoy some tasty appetizers and beverages, explore each room of our creative space, and get a preview of what we have in store for 2014! We welcome you to join us to celebrate on Wednesday, November 20th, 4pm-7pm. Get directions to Ocreative. Please RSVP to the event by November 15th so we can plan accordingly for food and beverages.

Today is an exciting day for color as the Pantone Color Report for Spring 2014 was released to coincide with New York Fashion week. Pantone’s stunning new colors for spring 2014 include a season of colorful equilibrium: Dazzling Blue, Violet Tulip, Hemlock, Sand, Placid Blue, Cayenne, Freesia, Celosia Orange, Paloma, and Radiant Orchid. It’s exciting to see the pastel and neutrals combine with vivid colors. The result is a palette that’s fresh and full of life. Celosia Orange, Placid Blue, and Sand – are all colors we used to paint our new Ocreative office. It’s exciting to see those colors appear on our walls as well as the Pantone Spring Color 2014 report. Living within walls that are those colors, we can completely understand why these hues made the top of the list. The contrast of the exciting, vivid, and bold Celosia Orange and the calming, pastel Placid Blue create an

As the fall season picks up, most people are thinking about fall sports and the changing leaves while companies are firming up their holiday marketing plans as well as determining their 2013 marketing budgets and planning. Sometimes taking the yearly stab at the budget is based on internal agendas and past years’ data and assumptions – but that can paint only a portion of the picture for the upcoming year. In a world that is more and more mobile and social everyday, we recommend for 2013 that your brand consider these four things within your marketing budget: Be nimble. Don’t overplan your marketing budget. There are going to be things that come over the course of the year — great opportunities that your company will want to take part in. You don’t want to be over-committed with pre-planned marketing where every ounce of your budget is accounted for. Leave a portion of the budget set

Pinterest is a fast growing social media platform, and best of all, it’s fun for users and good for businesses. Why you ask? It puts some of the coolest products and photos out there, allows people to share them, and links to the website where the photo came from so you can buy it now or save it for later — fulfilling the “see it, buy it” shopping concept. Pinterest has reportedly raised $37 million in private investment funding and earned rave reviews, including a spot on Time Magazine’s 50 Best Websites of 2011. From my experience with fellow Pinners (the people using Pinterest), it is looking like most Pinners are women. An Experian/ Hitwise Intelligence study confirms the demographics with 59% of the site’s traffic from women between the ages of 25 and 44. It’s also sounding like people are spending hours per day on the site. Some that we’ve

Social media is everywhere. It’s on your computer. It’s on your phone. It’s in your inbox. It’s on your TV. Maybe it’s even in your car. And while there are some questions about how healthy social media is, it’s pretty clear that lot of us are using it. Social Media is Purposeful I think the above statements are pretty obvious to most of us. But to find social media’s power, we need to back up and consider the primary benefit of social media: its ability to connect. Social media enables us to make connections we otherwise may not have been able to make. “Ordinary” people can connect with celebrities. Relatives and friends can connect across long distances in an instant. People with common interests can find each other with relative ease. The list goes on. And now … another possible connection is becoming increasingly apparent: Businesses can connect with their

We recently came across an awesome SEO infographic created by Search Engine Land, a must read online hub for the latest news and information on how search engines search and in-depth search engine optimization information. I thought this visual graphic would be helpful for our readers to understand the basics of SEO using a visual which gives a hats-off salute to the a periodic table of elements. ï»¿ Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is always a high priority for any website. However, sometimes it’s difficult to grasp all of the elements that work together to achieve high rankings with search engines. At Ocreative, we often find ourselves educating our clients on various aspects of websites including design standards, content management systems, online marketing strategies, social media, and of course, Search Engine Optimization. As I was browsing around Search Engine Land, I also found a great video they created with Common Craft that explains Search Engine

Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year and then watch the ball drop at your New Year’s Eve celebration? Is this a metaphor for what’s going to happen come February, March and April, when you realize that you’ve set your goal way to high and start to lose interest in trying to reach it? So many people see this happening and have, and I quote, “given up making resolutions because I’ll just be disappointed” or have vowed to make smaller more attainable ones. I am part of the latter group – and vowed to make smaller more attainable resolutions throughout the year. Here are some of my favorites that may also help you and your business in 2012. Blogs are great, however you have to write content for them to keep them going. The tough part sounds simple: write more blog articles. However, that resolution stops when you

QR Codes connect the printed real world with online virtual world. Have you heard the buzz about QR Codes? QR Codes, or Quick Response Codes, are 2D square bar codes that are scanned by a mobile device’s camera. You’re seeing them more and more all the time. Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) ran a special (July-August 2011) giving patrons 3% off postage rates if they included a QR Code in their direct mail piece. Want to effectively integrate QR codes into your marketing strategy… then you ought to keep these 6 tips in mind as you’re planning: 1. Keep the QR Code of ample size and clarity All of those little squares are important! You will need all of them. Contrast is important (it doesn’t always have to be black). The final size is important – how far away is the person going to be scanning it. People

Nine out of ten smartphone searches result in the users taking action. You heard it right, 9 out of 10! That’s why the entire mobile experience you have set up for your clients and customers needs to be a good one… and a good one right from the start. As Morgan Stanley stated in their April 2010 report on Internet Trends, “Mobile is ramping up faster than desktop Internet did and will be bigger than most think…Regarding pace of change, we believe more users will likely connect to the internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs by 2015.” If you have website, do you have a mobile friendly version of it? If you don’t have one, you’re among the 79% of major retailers who still need to invest in one. With technology and smart phone adaption changing on the quick pace that it has been, it’s no wonder that many

It’s not all just about the PC desktop or the Mac desktop anymore. Consumers are mobile. Your audience is mobile. How many people do you know have a cell phone? Think about that for a minute. How often do you see them without it? Never, right? That’s because having a cell phone, especially a smart phone, right at your fingertips, is intoxicating. I remember my math teacher in middle school told me that I had to do the math problems in my head because I would never be carrying a calculator in my pocket. Well, I showed him! My smart phone is in my pocket every day, and it has a calculator app! The world is on demand. With a mobile device, you have answers just a few finger taps away and literally in your pocket when you need it. Who wouldn’t be wooed over that? For more details about

The AP Stylebook has changed E-mail to just email, without the hyphen in the middle! This is a welcomed change, since I’ve typed it that way for years. At least now, I won’t have spell checker point that mistake anymore! The announcement was first made on Twitter by @apstylebook on March 18th. In the new 2011 edition, you’ll also see updates to smartphone and cellphone, both without spaces between the words. Late last year, they announced another favorite change of mine — the word web site would evolve to website, one word. If you’re like me, you’ll be happy to nab a copy of the 2011 AP Stylebook, which has these new changes along with many others. Look for it on their website in May -apstylebook.com.

Let’s start with square one: What on earth is a Hackathon? To put it simply: a Hackathon is collective code creation or collective programming. As a web developer (or web programmer, if you prefer), I find this concept to be very exciting. Besides being a fun learning experience for programmers and an efficient way to develop an application rapidly, in my view, these events provide another benefit. Events like Hacakthons help to question what I believe to be some incorrect notions about the “typical” present-day programmer. Incorrect Notions? One incorrect notion that I believe Hackathons question is the notion that programmers are corner-dwelling, socially awkward introverts. While I have no doubt that there are computer programmers out there who fit this description, I wonder just how many “introverted corner-dwellers” really exist? From a personal standpoint, I’ve met more programmers that are social, have a bustling personality, and don’t fit the supposed stereotype all that

When people are stepping into social media, sometimes people can feel overwhelmed with how to get started, or how to keep on track and even showing concern over the time involved in managing all of the accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc). My best advice is to set up an account with a program like Hootsuite. It’s online, has a mobile app for the iPhone (others coming soon), and is plain just an easy way to manage all of the accounts. Some of my favorite features include: Schedule updates: Set posts to display immediately or in the future Target and track links and see the results in Real Time Stats. Monitor Keywords to build leads, find more people to follow (make connections) and overall create a listening station about mentions of your company. Custom interface with team collaboration It integrates with Google Analytics (your website stats) so you can see how your

Last week, we talked about how social media was just a fancy name for “ways to talk to people.” The conversation continues here with our tips on finding where your customers are, representing your business on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In and what the keep in mind when posting messages. “Find the fish. Go where the fish are.” Ask yourself these questions: What platform (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) are they using the most? What they are most comfortable with? Be there. Make every single community (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) it’s own unique thing. Consider the audience on each and determine if what you are posting is appropriate to share on all communities or just one. Remember, it’s easier to sell and gain knowledge when you are on the inside track with people in your network. That’s why it’s important to start making connections. Invest time to build the community but put the quality

Ocreative Design Studio is excited to announce that Andrea Koeppel, Principal at Ocreative Design Studio, will be attending unGeekedElite – National Social Media, Marketing and Branding Open Forum with Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Olivier Blanchard and Scott Stratten. The event will be held from Thursday, May 13, 2010 to Saturday, May 15, 2010 at The University Club in Milwaukee. Eight Nationally Recognized Early Adopters of Social Media will be featured including: • Olivier Blanchard – The Brand Builder and Red Chair Group • Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer – Marketing and PR • Dan Schawbel – Personal Branding Guru, Author, Columnist for Business Week • Sally Hogshead – Author, Marketing Consultant and CBS and NYT Opt In • Visible Technologies – Social Media Monitoring and CRM • Chris Brogan – Best Selling Author, Trust Agents and Social Media Guru • Hubspot – Inbound and Outbound Marketing Strategist and Experts

We are often asked, “How do I understand what is going on in my Google Analytics report that I am getting each month? or “What are the numbers that I should really be paying attention to?” The traffic reports from Google Analytics are a great way to learn more and understand the customers who are on your website and can also help us (and you!) understand how we can improve your website and generate more leads and sales. Google Analytics Let’s start by logging into Google Analytics. Visit http://www.google.com/analytics and login with your username and password. If you need help with your username and password and are a client whom we just set up the account for, please contact Ocreative Design Studio for help. The first report that you will see when you enter into Google Analytics is the ‘Dashboard’ with the top visual being a line graph with each week measured

Social media and mobile marketing are growing at an accelerated rate. It is not a fad or a trend; it’s a reality. Forrester Research predicted huge growth for social media marketing, revealing that mobile marketing and social media will be the hottest areas for growth. They were right. This Week’s Social Media Activity Will Have a Substantial Effect on Business Marketing in 2010 This week has been an exciting week for social media, Twitter announced on Monday (March 15th) it’s new set of frameworks for adding this Twitter experience anywhere on the web called Anywhere (See announcement) The next day (March 16th) social networking website Facebook has surpassed the search engine Google in popularity, although the margin is slim. The following day (March 17th), Foursquare added almost 100,000 users in 10 days. Meanwhile, it continues to shatter its own daily usage (check-in) records. Foursquare, is a location-based network that combines locations with Twitter like status updates (which can

Are the majority of your customers within 50 miles of your business location? Do you prefer to work with local customers or businesses? Do you want to increase the number of local customers doing business with you? I’m guessing you just answered “Yes” at least twice and most likely three times. Yet, why do you spend all your efforts marketing your website to the entire world? Why not focus your efforts on your local audience? There are several positive reasons to market local: Travel less to do business. If you have a storefront where you are selling products, local customers are most likely to be the ones driving to your location. If you provide a professional service, there is less distance required for meetings or service calls. Less travel means less gas and thus fewer expenses. By being a local business you now become convenient as well. Build a local

I have been seeing more and more of ‘How to use: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter’ types of classes pop up around the area. Is it useful? Well, that depends on how tech savvy you are, how new you are to searching on the Internet and how much time you are willing to invest in learning something new. But, why would you want to do it in the first place? Well, here are five reasons why social media marketing is right for your business. Social media is an ‘immediate message tool’ - I think that the most important part of any social networking site for a business is to get your message out quickly — whether you have a new product, upcoming sale or promotion or just something that is interesting and going on internally within your business. People long to know more about the people/companies that they are doing

As I was opening my email today, I came across an email from Constant Contact and it made me think about why I open some emails and flag others for follow up later on. Thinking about this idea and thinking about it from your customers’ perspective is a great way to improve your email marketing open rate (getting your customers to open a message from you). You have three seconds to make an impression and get them to decide to read further. Below are two articles from Constant Contact that I would like to share: Subject Lines that Click: the 2-2-2 Principle by Julie Niehoff Six Tips for Writing Better Subject Lines by Martin Lieberman

Certain industries seem to thrive upon developing obscure acronyms, annoying abbreviations, and specialized terms that outsiders are not likely to understand. The use of this specialized language, often referred to as jargon, has the potential to create huge communication problems when business spans across different industries. Whether you notice it or not, no matter what industry you work in, you probably use jargon every day at work. Jargon doesn’t discriminate! We’re certainly not off the hook at Ocreative Design Studio. In fact, professionals in the IT industry (web sector included) are especially notorious for using jargon. I certainly use my fair share: AJAX, PHP, HTML, CSS, CMS, SSH, DNS, MySQL – and, yes, I’m just getting warmed up. While this kind of jargon makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (it’s okay if you don’t feel that way), is it appropriate to use this kind of language with a